Cassini Weekly Significant Events for 11/09/00 – 11/15/00

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking station on Tuesday, November 14. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally.  The speed of the
spacecraft can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page ( "http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/" )
 
Activities this week included the completion of the ninth and final instance of the Phase A 5-Day Repeating Template, and start of the first instance of the Phase B 5-Day Repeating Template for Jupiter Observations.  Other activities included Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) power on, Solid State Power Switch (SSPS) Fault Protection Algorithm update to set Magnetometer Subsystem (MAG) heater on if tripped, update to Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) Unexpected Current threshold, AACS Clear Highwater Marks, Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) clear Write Protect Violations flag, Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) Assisted Load Format (ALF) MRO from SSR, Command & Data Subsystem (CDS) SSR Memory Load Partition Repair (CDS-A and B), and a Reaction Wheel momentum unload.
 
This week marked the start of Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Jupiter observations.  Playback of this data will occur next week.  Over 4,200 Imaging Science Subsystem frames have been received and processed.
 
Radio Science personnel conducted a Cassini Radio Science Implementation Assessment Meeting.  The meeting was convened to provide an opportunity to view the end-to-end implementation progress of the new Radio Science instrument.  Managers from the Cassini Program, TMOD, and the
Communications Systems and Research Section (Section 331) participated. Invitees expressed appreciation for the level of detail presented and insight gained from the meeting.
 
The Spacecraft Office (SCO) delivered Version 6.1 of the Cassini Spacecraft Analysis Software (CSAS) to operations this week. This version contains updates to the Inertial Vector Propagation tool and the Kinematic Prediction tool.
 
Mission Planning provided Deep Space Network schedulers with a Program Manager approved update to the long range User Loading Profile.  The update reflected a plan of two passes per week during post-Jupiter cruise and the change of the Gravitational Wave Experiment test from a two-week period to two one-week periods in 2001.  The update will be used to support the February 2001 Resource Allocation Review Board meeting. From now until the post Jupiter time frame, various Cassini Teams will be conducting lessons learned discussions. The purpose is to document valuable information gained primarily from the Jupiter related activities that may be applied to ongoing cruise and future tour operations.  The first such discussion was held this week by members of the Science and Uplink Office.  The meeting was considered beneficial enough that a second meeting has been scheduled for the near term.
 
Cassini Outreach conducted a teacher workshop jointly with the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope project with 100 attendees.  The teachers learned about student measurements of Jupiter that will be used by the Cassini Program to calibrate Cassini’s radar receiver and for science observations, and about related lesson plans suitable for their
classrooms.  Outreach also participated in a two-day Solar System Exploration Forum retreat, intended to facilitate cooperation among many projects.
 
Pasadena City College has agreed to host the Jupiter Fly-by event "Jupiter in Music, Myth, History, and Science" to be held on December 30.
 
Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.
 
Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration